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Time to begin the “Afghanization” of the ISAF mission

January 13, 2010
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By Daniel Fata

On December 1, 2009, President Barack Obama announced the United States will increase its military commitment as well as civilian engagement in Afghanistan. The President’s announcement has already resulted in the allocation of more than 5,000 additional European troops and trainers for the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) effort. Not surprisingly, Europe, like the United States, expects results from this increased commitment. In order to maintain this increased but always politically fragile Allied support, the coalition must demonstrate a real commitment to the “Afghanization” of the ISAF military effort.

Building Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF) capacity is a key factor not only in the success of the mission on the ground but also in allowing for a handoff of the lead security role from NATO to the Afghans. The Afghan army and police need to be fully developed and leading the fight on the ground against the Taliban and other warring elements. If this is not done, then the political challenges for some European governments to maintain a commitment on the ground in Afghanistan will become nearly unmanageable, and the war in which the coalition and the Afghans currently are waging will drag on.

Today’s coalition effort suffers from a perception problem by Afghans that NATO is an outsider and occupier, has little regard for Afghan lives, and does not trust Afghans as equal partners. Having traveled to Afghanistan many times during the past three years, I have had the opportunity to talk with Afghan civilians as well as others on the ground about these perceptions. Unfortunately, these are real and serious concerns of many Afghans. Fortunately, most senior American officials and officers on the ground in Afghanistan take these issues very seriously and are doing what they can to change these perceptions.

Steps need to be taken soon, beyond what is already in place, to begin an Afghanization of the ISAF mission while the capacity of the ANSF is being increased. To be clear, ISAF and the ANSF have been working closely for years, and their achievements on the battlefield are impressive. Afghan units have taken the lead in many engagements throughout the country, and plans are in place for the transition of certain areas from ISAF to ANSF control.

Afghanization would include the following: making Afghanistan a member of the ISAF coalition; making a senior Afghan military officer one of the deputy commanders (DCOMs) in the ISAF command structure; providing other command structure slots for Afghan officers in the ISAF mission; and having Afghan soldiers provide force protection outside of NATO bases (this would allow protection of ISAF forces by a new and fellow ISAF member). Certainly these tasks are not as easy to implement as they may seem. Challenges and risks do exist in undertaking these steps. However, if our collective effort with the Afghan government and military forces is to succeed, a better integration between ISAF and the ANSF is required.

The overall goals of this initiative are three-fold: demonstrate to the Afghan people that the West trusts the ANSF and the Afghan government as equal partners in this war and that it does not want to be viewed as occupiers; provide for greater military cohesion (and development of trust) between NATO, its partners, and the ANSF; and establish a mechanism for an efficient transition and handoff of lead security responsibilities from NATO to the ANSF in a few years. And so while the Afghanization idea has important military value, arguably it may be equally important as a political and a strategic communications tool as well.

The fact that no NATO ally has yet left the ISAF mission in Afghanistan is often greatly overlooked and underappreciated by most. To maintain this allied commitment, progress on the ground by Afghans in the fields of security, governance, and reconstruction must occur quickly. In a few weeks, ISAF partners will meet in London to discuss how better to begin a transition of security responsibilities from NATO to the Afghans. If this initiative is to succeed, it will require support from the top. Only then will the outcomes of the London conference include the necessary endorsement to begin the Afghanization of the ISAF mission.

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Daniel P. Fata is a Senior Transatlantic Fellow at the German Marshall Fund in Washington, DC.

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